History
In 1963, Ellio's Pizza was founded by Greek immigrants Elias Betzios, George Liolis, and Manny Tzelios. The brand name was a combination of the names of its three co-founders. [1] Four years later, Ellio's introduced its signature "9 slice" pizza in a box comprising 3 rectangular pizzas, each divisible crosswise into three slices. [2]
The founders sold Ellio's to Purex Industries in 1971 [3] and Betzios went on the create Betzios Pizza. [4] [1] When Purex's consumer division was acquired by Greyhound in 1985, Ellio's joined the company's Armour-Dial subsidiary. [5]
In 1988, Canadian frozen food company McCain Foods acquired the Ellio's brand from the Dial Corporation, as it was then named, and continued pizza production in Lodi, NJ. [6] [7] At the time, the frozen pizza brand had $30 million in annual sales and was outselling all competitors in the New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia markets. [8]
In 2006, Ellio's added a microwaveable pizza to its product line, adopting the more common round pizza form. In 2007, despite a distribution limited to the Northeastern U.S., Ellio's was the 9th best selling brand in the country, with sales totaling $34,880,060. [9] In 2009, the product line expanded further, with the introduction of italian sausage and "Pepperoni Supreme" pizza. [2]
In 2014, McCain Foods announced the sale of its North American pizza business, including the Ellio's brand and production facilities, to German food manufacturer Dr. Oetker. [7] [10] The brand has continued to expand its variety. As of 2015, Ellio's is available in 8 different crust and topping configurations. [11] In 2018, it also introduced breadsticks. [12]
